It may feel a little like the Fwoosh is in the midst of a Ninja Renaissance at the moment — The Fwoosh Sengoku period, maybe? — so today let’s take a look at CJESIM’s impressive Ninja kits.
First, a little background. CJESIM is a small team out of Canada that started building custom figure clothing earlier this year with a focus on 6-inch scale beginning. Building from custom capes and robes, they have recently entered the foray of full-suit conversion kits, that comprise several layering pieces that cover the majority of the base figure.
For the ninja, there are three major pieces that make up the uniform: there are the pants that emulate the look of the kurasan bakama; a light outer-vest, kind of like a kataginu; and a short hooded jacket fits between the two. In addition, there are braided elastic bands for the belt and shin wraps and a small mask that can sleeve over the lower face and neck.
CJESIM does offer these in several sizes, from ThreeA-size to small Marvel Legends-sized bodies, and I went with the largest one (Small ML) for mine. Of course, I had a very specific base body in mind, so some minor modifications were needed to get them on to my figures, but otherwise these sets are pretty easy to assemble on to your figure. I don’t have Facebook, but I understand there are a couple videos folks have posted detailing how you “dress” them, should you want to double check.
Now, as we have talked about on Fwoosh over and over and over and OVER, the classic pop-culture look of shinobi shōzoku is likely just a modern fabrication, getting your ninjas to look right to you is really all that’s important here. So to fit these to the Mezco Daredevil bodies, I’ve been buying cheap and hoarding. I had to remove the sleeves. It was a bit of a shame to alter these very well-made garments, but you gotta do what you gotta do. I think the final look, however, is very satisfying. Eschewing a little more modern, I made use of Daredevil’s belt, gloves and boots, but obviously the elastics would fulfill the same role on a different base figure. The only other “modification” I made was crafting an extra red mask for my black ninja — the contrasting colors just looks good.
So the quality of these pieces is pretty impressive. The material is light enough to lay fairly well across the figure, the stitch work is solid (and pretty durable) and the design work leaves you with a suit that looks really good and sacrifices very little in articulation — if any at all. I like the use of the hooded shirt for the mask. If one were to want a “hero” ninja to show his face, the hood and mask can rest around the figure’s neck and shoulders very convincingly. It will come as little surprise, but about all I would want more from this particular set is one about 10 percent bigger, for these buffer Mezco and medium Legends bodies. Well, that and more colors. I’m going to need a white suit. Bad.
For me, these uniforms are a perfect “Mezco-ish” complement to my Articulated Icons figures. They also help me put those stores of additional weapons to work. I highly recommend them.
It would also be a good idea to keep an eye on CJESIM via their social media and their site. They recently added some very cool Marvel kits, and they keep teasing me with a damn suit and tie set I need to get my hands on. Their products are essentially made-to-order done in batches, so a little patience is helpful, and if these two suits were any indication, they are well worth a little waiting.
